Cycle B - Year I:

7 February 2021: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Job 7:1-4, 6-7

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23

Gospel:  Please Read  Mark 1:29-39

"The Christian challenge: work and pray"

Last third Sunday of January we celebrated the childhood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Feast of the Sto. Nino.  This Sunday we will see the public life of our Lord Jesus as an adult.

The Gospel narratives by St. Mark offers a glimpse of a day in the public life of our Lord Jesus.  St. Mark presents Jesus tirelessly preaching to large crowds, healing a mounting number of sick and suffering.  Many aspects of the life of Jesus as an adult come together in this reading.

When Jesus came to the house of Simon-Peter, the latter's mother-in-law was also sick.  Even though it was a Sabbath, our Lord Jesus was moved to cure Peter's mother-in-law because He always puts compassion for the needy over the Law that prohibits healing on a Sabbath.  And then Peter's mother-in-law waited on Jesus and the others.

Now, there is a lesson to learn from this incident.  When Jesus heals us physically or even spiritually, the best way to thank the Lord is to serve Him in our brothers and sisters in need, like what Simon's mother-in-law did after being healed by Jesus.

The Gospel narrative continues that people kept bringing to Jesus all who were ill and possessed by demons even after sunset.  It must be an exhausting day for our Lord.  In the morning, "while it was still very dark," Jesus got up early and slipped out of the house where He was staying to a deserted place to be alone in prayer with His heavenly Father.  The Gospel stories tell us that as well as healing, casting our demons, Jesus was in the habit of going off to a quiet place to pray.  Because in prayer and conversation with His Father, Jesus finds strength and energy in His demanding public ministry.  So let us learn from this example of our Lord Jesus Christ as well, and make praying the primary source of our activities and actions while living in this busy, sometimes chaotic world.

As we face another year of this pandemic with no certainty of when this ends, let us go back to basics of life, meeting the challenges as they come with hope and trust in God's almighty, and finding our strength to surmount in prayers whatever storms this life brings.  For it is when we pray that we connect with God, Who is the Author and Creator of all things.  Now God will not spare us from life' storms, but believe He will make us strong and steady to pass through these storms, in His caring and loving arms.  Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

 Cycle B - Year I:  

2 February 2021:  Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Malachi 3:1-4

Second Reading:   Hebrews 2:14-18

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 2:22-32

"Humble obedience to God's will"

Forty days after the joyful event of the Lord's Nativity, the Church celebrates on February 2, Tuesday, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This is the blessed day when the infant Jesus was presented in the Temple by His human parents.  Because they were devout Jews, Mary and Joseph obeyed the Law of Moses by bringing their firstborn Son to the Temple of Jerusalem as an act of consecration to the Lord.  Today's Feast is also known as Candlemas day.

The liturgy for today: (Extract from Ordo 2021)  

"On this day the faithful gather to meet the Lord as he comes, acclaiming him as did Simeon, who recognized in Christ the 'Light to enlighten the Gentiles'."

"The faithful should gather in a lesser church or in another suitable place outside the church to which the procession is directed. They hold in their hands candles which they light at the beginning of the rite."

"At the blessing of candles and in the procession the priest may wear a white chasuble or a white cope."

"As the procession enters the church, the entrance song is sung, after which, omitting the usual opening rites (of the Mass), the Gloria is sung immediately and the collect of the day follows.  The Mass then proceeds in the usual way."

The Gospel proclamation: (Luke 2:22-32) St. Luke wrote that this important event in our Lord's life is witnessed by a devout man in Jerusalem by the name of Simeon, and a prophetess named Anna who came to the Temple prompted by the Holy Spirit.  When Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus arrived in the Temple, Simeon and Anna recognized the baby Jesus as the Lord and confessed Him with exultation.

Let us reflect on the attitude of Mary and Joseph as this important event of the Presentation of the Lord unfold in their lives.

Although they have the singular privilege of being chosen as the human parents of the Son of the almighty God, Mary and Joseph remained humble and obedient to the will of the Father.

We can appreciate the humble obedience of the Holy Family in adhering to the prescripts of the Mosaic Law, even though the infant Jesus had no real reason to be presented in the Temple insofar as it was the Lord Himself being presented to the Father.  It is example such as this that helps us to see why Mary and Joseph were chosen to take care of the Son of God as an infant.  It is because of their obedience to God's will.  They both had a heart that was set upon the will of God, and not their own interests and desires.  And it is because of her deeper "Yes" to God that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary and became man.

Now there is the temptation, in our practical lives today, to question God when we do not understand what's going on with our life.  Some of us even dare to openly oppose God's word handed down  through the teachings of His Church when these teachings run counter  to their personal desires and inclinations.  It seems that humility and obedience to God have become "old fashion" as we dream to be demigods ourselves.  And this is the worst form of corruption of the human soul.

The Presentation of the Lord is the fourth joyful mystery of the Holy Rosary.  The next time we say our Rosary and reflect on this particular mystery of the Presentation of the Lord, let us think about Mary and Joseph's obedience to God, and the importance of our own obedience to the Almighty.

Let us pray to the Holy Spirit that, like Simeon and Anna who recognized the infant Jesus in the Temple, we also recognize our Lord Jesus Christ as He presents Himself in the breaking of bread in the Holy Eucharist at Mass.

Finally, today's Feast is also the end of Christmastide, which lasts for forty days that began on Christmas eve, last December 24, and concludes with the Candlemas, also known as the Presentation of the Lord and the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

A blessed Feast of the Presentation of the Lord to us all.  And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!